COMPLICATIONS OF PLEADING 315

because William, his father, was not born in lawful wedlock, but
during the widowhood of his mother. And if William his father, son
of Hugh, were alive, he would not be admissible in proof, because he
was a bastard. And the said William, his son, cannot be in a better
condition than William, his father. And he asketh judgment if he
ought to be admitted, etc. And as to the aforesaid, Nigel, Gregory
and Robert, sons of Denise, sister of the said Siward, whom the
claimant bringeth in proof, etc., they ought not to be received, be-
cause Denise, their mother, was espoused to a certain free man of W.;
and he saith that the aforesaid Nigel, Gregory and Robert were born
in lawful wedlock, and ought, therefore, to follow their father and not
their mother, and he asketh judgment whether they are receivable to
prove that any man of the issue of their mother must answer a writ
of naifty. And as to Harry, son of Robert, son of Siward, he saith that
he is not receivable in proof, because he is alone, and the testimony of
a single person is as the testimony of no one. And he saith further that
if the Court shall rule that the aforesaid men whom the claimant
offereth in proof are admissable, the aforesaid reasons and challenges
notwithstanding, then he saith as before that he is a man of free
estate, and he saith that the aforesaid Harry, Richard, William, Nigel,
Gregory and Robert are free men, unless in the King's Court they
confess that they be villeins. And he saith that one Otes, father of the
aforesaid Siward, is and was a free man, and came as an adventif1 from
the neighbourhood of Northfield and took [land] in villeinage from
the ancestors of the aforesaid William of Cressy to have and to hold
at their will, and he is ready to aver this in such a way as the Court of
the lord King shall award... .And the said William of Cressy saith
that the aforesaid Otes, father of the aforesaid Siward, was a villein
through his grandfather and his great-grandfather, and was born on
his land; and he asketh that this be inquired of by the neighbourhood.
And William the son of Siward asketh the like. So the Sheriff is
commanded, etc.2

1 An adventif is one who comes onto the manor from outside, and is always
presumed to be a free man (see above, p. 311).

2 Y.B. 5 Ed. II, 121-3. The relations between the various parties will be
easily seen from the following:

Otes
I

r~
Siward
I

Rol Rid-
>ert lard
Hu
Will Wil
gh
jam iam

1 Denise
i

1 William
I Robert
1 Henry
1 Nigel
i
Gregory
1 Robert

(The defendant)

The underlined names are those of the kinsmen present in court.